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John Barnes, Hartpury director of rugby, said: “Last year was a fantastic year, we never thought we’d go the season unbeaten and win promotion but when we got to that promotion stage it was sheer elation.

“To then finish the season unbeaten was a fantastic achievement and we look forward to the step up and the challenge that awaits us in the Greene King IPA Championship.”

The director of rugby will be heading back to the Bristol on the opening day of the season, where he coached at for ten years.

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Ian Ritchie, RFU chief executive officer, said: “This is a very exciting time for the Greene King IPA Championship and we are delighted that Greene King IPA has committed to support the competition for three more seasons.

“Extending our relationship with Greene King IPA is another strong step forward on our mission to continue improving the league, and to have such an established brand like Greene King IPA invest in the competition is a real credit to the clubs and their continued efforts to drive this competition forward.”

Ed Sheldon runs in a try for Hartpury

ChampionshipRugby.co.uk will officially launch ahead of the first weekend of fixtures in September and the new brand identity will be rolled out across all Greene King IPA Championship assets and collateral from August 21 2017.

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In addition, the RFU has committed to live stream up to ten games this season which will be hosted on the new website along with the England Rugby social media channels and will be led by a commentary team of Tom May, Rob Vickerman and Nick Heath. This is in addition to the 11 games that Sky Sports – the official broadcaster of the Greene King IPA Championship – will air throughout the season.